Doors 7:45 PM, Music 8:30 PM – 2 set(s) of music
Line-up:
Tom Cawley – Piano / Electronics
About
Multi-award winning pianist and composer Tom Cawley brings his new project to the Vortex for an intimate and absorbing night of improvisation and sonic adventure.
The music is based around the interaction between the piano and an 8-track live sampling/sound manipulation device. Everything is played live and all sounds start with the piano, but whole worlds of rhythmic, sonic and harmonic invention are possible, in many unpredictable and magical ways.
Some of the pieces are composed, some are purely improvised, where Tom has programmed the device to play phrases back at him and to transform textures and sounds. Soundscapes range from plaintive and echo-drenched to industrial-sounding mayhem; dense fugal pieces are built from small cells of melody; entire pulsing rhythmical episodes are made from one (changing) note from the piano.
To further enhance this, Tom will be using a video synthesiser, which takes the sound and makes all sorts of patterns, ever-evolving and multi-stylistic.
This is by far the most ambitious project that Tom has embarked on, and tonight sees its full-length debut. Below are some early pieces and experimentations and a short performance at Jazz in the Round.